


Never, Ever

by creampuffqueen



Series: Future Family Fics [22]
Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, basically adri and pearl still suck, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23471380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creampuffqueen/pseuds/creampuffqueen
Summary: A tumblr request by an anon for Adri and Pearl to try and get into baby Peony's life
Relationships: Kai/Linh Cinder
Series: Future Family Fics [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538509
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51





	Never, Ever

“Your Majesties, I am here to inform you that you have two subjects who wish to speak with you waiting in your office.” Nainsi’s robotic voice flooded through the nursery, and Cinder turned towards the android. 

“Tell them we’ll be there in a moment, Nainsi.” She held her three-month old daughter in her arms, and putting her down was the _last_ thing she felt like doing. At Kai’s face, she knew he felt the same.

“As you wish, your Majesty.” The android rolled away, and Cinder let out a soft sigh.

“We should probably go to that, shouldn’t we.”

Peony was being quiet for once, and Cinder didn’t want to spoil the moment by putting her back in her crib. She was still getting used to being in the nursery by herself, rather than in Kai and Cinder’s room.

But she had a sleep schedule now, was nearly sleeping through the night. Which meant she could have a nanny at night, and her parents could actually sleep for the first time in months.

So Cinder kissed her baby girl one last time, and gently put her down. As expected, she started crying, and it absolutely broke Cinder’s heart to leave her alone. 

Kai activated the nanny-droid, and they very slowly walked out of the nursery. They could still hear the wailing all the way down the hall.

The cries faded as they got closer to the office, but Cinder found herself getting annoyed. Or maybe that was the sleep deprivation. She’d have to comm Scarlet later and ask if babies were supposed to be this exhausting.

She was so focused on her thoughts of what she’d do after the meeting, with some undoubtedly boring guard or diplomat or something-

“Hello, Cinder.” She stopped in her tracks.

Sitting before her, in _her own office_ , were Adri and Pearl. Warnings flashed in her retina display as her temperature rose, and her head started to ache from her blood being unable to go to her face.

“What are you doing here?” Kai snapped, beating her to it. “Who let you in?”

“That’s no way to treat a guest.” Adri whined. “We are here on purely peaceful terms, really.”

“Really? Because last time we saw you, you two were causing a commotion about not being invited to our wedding.” Kai’s face was red, and Cinder reached out a hand to steady herself.

“What do you want? More money?” She cursed herself as soon as she said it; of course they didn’t want money, they owned the patent for the bioelectricity block and were some of the richest people in the Eastern Commonwealth.

“No. And I’m offended you’d think so lowly of us, Cinder. We’re your family, after all.” Adri’s voice grated on Cinder’s ears, and it took nearly everything in her to keep from throwing them both out the window.

“I don’t think so. You’ve made it very clear to me on many occasions that we are anything but _family_.” She growled.

“We came because we wanted to see that baby!” Pearl blurted. “She’s my niece, after all, and Adri’s granddaughter.”

“Such an awful thing you named her,” Adri continued, “Calling her after a dead person, and a person you didn’t even care about.”

Cinder pinched the bridge of her nose. “So, you’re telling me we’re family, but Peony wasn’t? You are both being such hypocrites.”

“I’m going to ask you to leave.” Kai said, pointing towards the door. “And for future reference, if you ever come knocking around here again, don’t expect to be let inside.”

“I can’t believe we’re getting such treatment from our own leaders.” Adri scowled. “You insult us, and throw us out? You two had better know we’re going straight to the press.”

“Go to the press then!” Cinder yelled, temper getting the best of her. “Do whatever the hell you want, but stay away from my daughter!”

Pearl and Adri sputtered for words, and Cinder gestured at the door again. 

“I named my daughter after a brave young girl who died of the plague, and was a friend to me when neither of you were. If Peony were still here, she’d be ashamed of your actions!”

Cinder felt like her head was going to split open from the ache of not being able to cry. Adri whirled on her heel and walked out, her daughter following.

And as Kai pulled her close to him, Cinder wondered just what kind of trouble she’d gotten herself into this time.

~~~~

_“Emperor and Empress accused of bad hospitality towards guests, as well as refusing to permit family members to see the Crown Princess.”_

Cinder laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as the news articles flooded her retina display. It had hardly been two hours since Adri and Pearl left, and yet the story was all over the news. 

Peony was napping on Kai’s chest, and her husband held her close as she sifted through the articles, each one growing worse.

“Kai?” She asked softly, careful not to wake the sleeping baby.

“Yes?” He responded, voice low as well. 

“Am I a terrible mother for denying Peony the right to see her family?” 

“No, Cinder. You’re not. Adri and Pearl are just backwards fools.” Kai assured her. “They hardly even hear themselves being hypocritical.”

Still, Cinder couldn’t get the thought out of her head. She didn’t particularly care about what was said about Peony’s name. It was too late to do anything about it, even if they’d wanted to. Which they didn’t.

What was bothering her was the thought that maybe one day Peony would want to meet the people who Cinder had grown up with. Maybe Pearl and Adri had changed, and Cinder was denying her daughter the opportunity of a good grandmother and aunt.

“Cinder, tell me what you’re thinking.” Kai breathed. “You have that look on your face.” 

“Kai, what if we’ve just made a mistake?” Cinder whispered. “What if we’ve just ruined Peony’s chances of having family?”

“Cinder, don’t say that.” Kai said earnestly. “Peony has loads of family. Winter and Jacin are her biological aunt and uncle, and all the rest of our friends are honorary family. But that doesn’t make them less.”

“I know.” She whispered. “But-”

Her husband put a finger to her lips. “No buts. We’ve done the right thing. Would you want to risk letting them into her life and doing what they did to you? I don’t care if they say they’ve changed. My baby girl is not going anywhere near them.”

“Okay.” Cinder breathed. She shut the articles down from her retina display. Kai pulled her closer, and she curled into his side and looked at Peony.

The baby was fast asleep, in a little yellow onesie, her arms under her head as she slept on her father’s chest. 

“You’re a wonderful mother, Cinder.” Kai whispered. “And some articles from some nobodies isn’t going to change that.”

So Cinder closed her eyes, and soon she was asleep alongside her daughter.

Her beautiful, amazing daughter. The daughter that Cinder would never, ever, _ever_ let anything bad happen to. 

Not ever in her life.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my tumblr @creampuffqueen!


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